Sensing Science: Assessing K–2 Students' Readiness for Reasoning With Kinetic Models of Heat Using Dynamic Visual Representations

• In Event: 33.080 - Poster Session 6
  In Poster Session: 33.080-2 - Learning Science Through Games, Simulations, and Technologies in Diverse Environments

Abstract

In this paper, we present findings from our two-year study on the preconceptions young children (4 to 8 years old) hold in regards to the nature of temperature and heat and how their use of visual representations can improve their interpretation of temperature and heat. We use the word preconceptions to indicate the naïve ideas that children hold before formal instruction. We hypothesize that the use of visualizations of heat concepts that emerge from interactions between the particles can serve as a better “tool for thinking” to help K-2 students better understand those concepts. Our findings suggest that young children can use the kinetic heat model to explain and disambiguate their current theories about temperature and heat.

Authors

• Elham Beheshti, Northwestern University

• George Forman

• Carolyn Staudt, The Concord Consortium

• Nathan Kimball, The Concord Consortium

• Jamie Broadhead